Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Bought by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden boosted its Meta Platforms stake by 62% in the first quarter, buying 266,260 more shares and bringing its holdings to 696,047 shares valued at about $398.2 million.
• Meta continues to attract mostly bullish analyst sentiment, with several firms raising ratings or price targets; the stock carries an average Moderate Buy rating and a consensus price target of $840.64.
• The company reported strong first-quarter results, with EPS of $10.44 topping estimates and revenue rising 33.1% year over year to $56.31 billion, while also paying a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 62.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 696,047 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 266,260 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.2% of Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $398,229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% in the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $86,454,000 after acquiring an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "positive" rating to a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $840.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company's stock, valued at $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 39,513 shares of company stock valued at $24,419,874 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $615.58 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $600.41 and a 200-day moving average of $627.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse Image, a new AI image-generation tool inside Meta AI for consumers and businesses. The rollout could help increase engagement across Instagram, WhatsApp and other apps, while giving advertisers and creators a new reason to use Meta’s ecosystem. Meta expands generative AI tools with Muse Image rollout
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta from hold to buy, adding to bullish sentiment around the stock. Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META Raised to "Buy" at Erste Group Bank
• Positive Sentiment: Truist Securities also reiterated a Buy view and an $840 price target, reinforcing the case that Wall Street still sees meaningful upside in META.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc NASDAQ: META, formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta's core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.

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